New SB limitations - facts

[SulwynCaliope]

Just ran Castrum in full left side and right side SB gear. The gear was i49 HQ gear. From start to finish I got 65% spirit bond. My friend ran in with NQ equips and reported over 50% SB. It seems like since you have to do 2 runs anyway to fully SB, you could go into Cas with NQ gears instead of HQ. It'll save you quite a bit of money.

[Amelia_Pond_Behemoth]

S
1) Do not allow gear changes inside an instance; really, this shouldn't be and probably wasn't commonly done to begin with EXCEPT to get past IL entry requirements, and I think this change alone would solve more problems than it would cause

So an upgrade drops and you win it, but not allowed to equip it? No thanks.

Edit to add: what happens to the SB rate when it's synced down to below level 50?

[Kiara]

Following up on TravelerX1 I did some testing on 8 sheep and 1 ice sprite in Coerthas (lvl37) with varying levels of gear all NQ. The results of one pull were thus:

i18 Brass ring of Craft ~ 3%

i26 Velveteen Coatee of Craft ~ 26%

i27Velveteen Wedge Cap of Craft ~ 28%

i28 Velveteen Half Apron ~ 26%

i38 Linen Shortgloves ~8%

i46 Electrum Wrists of Craft ~ 4%

i47 Electrum Ring of Craft ~ 3%

i49 Electrum Choker ~ 3%

Hi Manuka,

WOW. 26% Spiritbond Progress on *1* (ONE) Pull? Amazing!

This might not be so bad. Now we need to test Higher Level Gear.

[Manuka]

Hi Manuka,

WOW. 26% Spiritbond Progress on *1* (ONE) Pull? Amazing!

This might not be so bad. Now we need to test Higher Level Gear.

Yeah I was surprised by it at first, like I usually use that spot to mass bind for materia II's on the left and materia I's on the right with vendor gear while farming fleece. Before the patch that pull would normally bring in about 11-17% across all the gear and now the rate they bond at is almost double (except for the cheap materia I gear). Honestly after considering it the changes aren't that bad as now it'll force people to farm mat mobs that tend to go ignored (like boar hide which sells double than most lvl50 mats on my surver) to get materia efficiently.

[Waeksyn]

Just ran Castrum in full left side and right side SB gear. The gear was i49 HQ gear. From start to finish I got 65% spirit bond. My friend ran in with NQ equips and reported over 50% SB. It seems like since you have to do 2 runs anyway to fully SB, you could go into Cas with NQ gears instead of HQ. It'll save you quite a bit of money.

Was this a "normal" Castrum run where you run past 80% of the trash? Wondering if a Castrum SB party (exit before final 5 bosses) would be effective for the 45-49 range.

[Lemuria]

This is what happens when people complain about others spiritbonding their lower level equipment in higher tier dungeons. This is why we can't have nice things. Let's just ignore the fact that half the time these people still do a fine job of tanking/DPSing/Healing, and focus on that one level 49 ring the tank was wearing the whole time.

This is perhaps one of the dumbest moves SE has made in a long time, and it'll only push materia prices up even further than they already are.

[SulwynCaliope]

Was this a "normal" Castrum run where you run past 80% of the trash? Wondering if a Castrum SB party (exit before final 5 bosses) would be effective for the 45-49 range.

I think you're thinking of Prae hahaha. But yea my run was in DF and I assume that if I had been in a full SB party where we pulled every single living thing I could've easily SBed my whole set in one run.

[Manuka]

I think I just discovered something new. The increased rates that I listed earlier get reduced dramatically if you form a party :/ Just a minute ago I put on a bunch of gear to spirit bond for some II's and noticed a significant loss in SB across all gear (some as high as 10%) and was more inline with prepatch SB rate that I thought I hallucinated my previous numbers. At the time I was partied with a friend and remembered that the chocobo would reduce my SB by a tiny bit while out so I decided to disband and see what happened. Numbers went back up high again. So yeah apparently these increased rates only work great solo... I see Urth's becoming a battle royale if the loss is as pronounced with 40+ gear lol

[Syrehn]

Just ran Castrum in full left side and right side SB gear. The gear was i49 HQ gear. From start to finish I got 65% spirit bond. My friend ran in with NQ equips and reported over 50% SB. It seems like since you have to do 2 runs anyway to fully SB, you could go into Cas with NQ gears instead of HQ. It'll save you quite a bit of money.

I just did Castrum with only the left side full HQ ilvl 49 and ended with a 71% bond. I wonder what the difference was between the runs to cause a 6% bond difference. Did you guys skip any mobs? Was your friend that said they had over 50% in the same run as you?

Either way you're right, it will take 2 runs to fully SB.

[Recaldy]

Seems you gotta imagine what ilv the dungeon drops then go there to use the appropriate ilv gear.